Influence of Altitudinal Variation on the Antioxidant Potential of Tartar Buckwheat of Western Himalaya

In the present work, the effect of altitudinal variations on the total phenol, flavonoid, and antioxidant potential of seeds and hull of Tartar buckwheat collected from 15 different locations of Western Himalaya has been investigated. Methanolic and acetonic extracts of seed and hull powder showed significantly increasing amounts of total polyphenol content, and antioxidant potential with rising altitude. Methanolic extract of seed and hull powder were found to have significantly greater polyphenol, and antioxidant potential as compared to acetonic extract. The methanolic seed extract of Inderdhara (3,133 m) showed the maximum total phenolic content 1,651 mu g gallic acid equivalent/50 mg of dry weight. The methanolic seed extract of Inderdhara showed the maximum antioxidant activity (77.29+/-1.2%) and antiradical activity (55.5+/-0.5%) also. The results of this study exhibited good correlation with total polyphenol and antioxidant potential in all the samples followed by the increasing tendency towards rising altitude.